Trailers: Tomb Raider - E3 Trailer

[Team Hollywood]

Tomb Raider - E3 Trailer

This isn't your father's Lara Croft.

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[ShinobiJedi42]

I had high hopes for this game until this trailer. It just looks like Samus Aran all over again.

 

[Don Reba]

Poor Lara never seems to catch a break. I still have high hopes for the game.

 

[Sixcess]

Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

Tied up. Injured. Frightened. Helpless. Slapped around. Tied up (again). Attempted rape.

I didn't think they could do worse than the first trailer but this one effortlessly does so.

Fuck off, Square Enix. I don't care how 'empowered' she is by the end of the game, the idea that a female character has to be repeatedly brutalised before she can become an action hero is cheap lazy exploitation movie level drivel.

 

[wooty]

Tomb Raider the survival edition? Looks decent to me.

It could be good to see a different side to Ms Croft, the first games in the series she was hard as nails and this could be a good twist to the character.

 

[nayrbarr]

This looks like it could actually be really good. I'll keep an eye on it.

@Sixcess, you don't get it, do you? This is a prequel explaining how Lara developed into what she is in the earlier game. If you'd watched to the end of the trailer you'd've seen that emerging within her. She isn't brutalised as a woman, she's brutalised because she's a *normal person* swept up in whatever the game's plot is.

 

[Fasckira]

@Sixcess, you don't get it, do you? This is a prequel explaining how Lara developed into what she is in the earlier game. If you'd watched to the end of the trailer you'd've seen that emerging within her. She isn't brutalised as a woman, she's brutalised because she's a *normal person* swept up in whatever the game's plot is.

This man speaketh the truth! Sounds like Sixcess has some small white knight thing going on. The game isn't saying that its because shes a girl that shes having a hard time, its saying because shes a normal human being in a really shitty circumstance that shes having a hard time.

My only problem so far from what Ive seen is that there seems to be a lot QTEs... that could just be moments where they've slowed down the CGI to show off something but Im pretty sure during game play we'll no doubt see buttons to press not to die at that point.

Aside from that it looks pretty ace. Quite like the idea of Lara Croft who isn't a totally calm, controlled adventurer but one who looks to be pretty shit scared (as I would be in her place), making it a lot more identifiable.

 

[Sixcess]

@Sixcess, you don't get it, do you? This is a prequel explaining how Lara developed into what she is in the earlier game. If you'd watched to the end of the trailer you'd've seen that emerging within her. She isn't brutalised as a woman, she's brutalised because she's a *normal person* swept up in whatever the game's plot is.

Then they should have went with a new IP instead of trying to ride on whatever recognition the Tomb Raider name has left, because Lara isn't a normal person - she's a video game action hero in a series that deals in adventure in exotic locations, not 'realistic' psychological drama. This trailer feels as jarring to me as Halo 4 would if it focused mainly on Master Chief suffering post traumatic stress disorder.

And it is because she's a woman. Show me one action game trailer ever that puts a male protagonist in a situation of implied sexual assault if you want me to believe otherwise.

Simply put, although I don't like the overuse of woman-in-peril cliches in the trailers I dislike it more because they're doing an "Other M" on Lara. It says a lot about how juvenile the industry still is that they appear to believe the only way to make female action heroes realistic is by emphasising their vulnerability.

 

[Frontastic]

Gritty reboot? Fine. But if there isn't a mystical ancient power in there somewhere, this isn't Tomb Raider. Getting worried now. It looks good and all but it's becoming less and less clear why this isn't just an original IP.

 

[Don Reba]

And it is because she's a woman. Show me one action game trailer ever that puts a male protagonist in a situation of implied sexual assault if you want me to believe otherwise.

You tell it, as if the sexual assault situation was the guiding reason for the choice of character in the game.

 

[Harbinger_]

Finally a Tomb Raider game where it focuses more on the character than the character's protruding body parts.

As far as I'm concerned I think that without a gameplay demo people are slapping the "Other M" label onto this new version of Lara Croft quite quickly.

"Tied up. Injured. Frightened. Helpless. Slapped around. Tied up (again). Attempted rape."

Male characters and female characters both end up getting tied up, injured, frightened, helpless, slapped around and sometimes even captured again. The attempted rape... well in my opinion it does add the realism which is what I think (hope) they were aiming for. It's good to see what forges a character into who they become, especially a heroine. There are very few in the gaming industry and in a male majority industry this shouldn't be surprising. It shouldn't be right either though.

Again I'm happy to see this game focus on environments, stunning graphics and what seems to be writing straight out of a survival movie. Rather than the oversexualized, breasts the size of water melons, no character depth Lara Croft of yesteryear.

 

[ShinobiJedi42]

And it is because she's a woman. Show me one action game trailer ever that puts a male protagonist in a situation of implied sexual assault if you want me to believe otherwise.

I find your point confusing. Sexual assault is a very real and horrible thing women all over the world deal with. Would it not be realistic that, in the games environment, an evil, straight male would try to take advantage of her? To me, it rings true. Due to my profession, I encounter many women who have been sexually assaulted in the past. For some, it causes severe mental distress akin to PTSD, but a select few acknowledge that the experience made them a stronger person. I'm not saying sexual assault is a good thing, by any means. I am simply saying that if the game developers want to give her a very real traumatic experience that will build her personality, then sexual assault is a valid choice.

Also, you don't see many men being sexually assaulted in video games (except Hitman: Absolution ) simply because the rates of male sexual assault are far less than women. And most cases of male sexual assault occur in prisons or involve pedophilia. I don't think any of those cases are applicable to many male-centered video games, unless you want to assume Nathan Drake was sexually assaulted in that Borneo prison

 

[Matt Carey]

If there is so much as one QTE in this game, I am boycotting it so hard. Only one game got away with QTEs and that was Shenmue.

 

[Sixcess]

And it is because she's a woman. Show me one action game trailer ever that puts a male protagonist in a situation of implied sexual assault if you want me to believe otherwise.

You tell it, as if the sexual assault situation was the guiding reason for the choice of character in the game.

No, my point was that the situation is only there because of the choice of character.

I am simply saying that if the game developers want to give her a very real traumatic experience that will build her personality, then sexual assault is a valid choice.

A reasonable and well informed opinion.

But when I watch that trailer I don't get the feeling that was their motivation. It all comes across like an exploitation movie - like the 70s/80s revenge flicks that used rape/attempted rape as the reason for the female hero to pick up a gun and start killing people, exactly as shown in the trailer. Of course we're seeing it out of context, but I'll bet any money that that's the first point in the game where Lara picks up the pistol(s) that are iconic to her character. That's not a traumatic experience, that's an excuse.

 

[ShinobiJedi42]

And it is because she's a woman. Show me one action game trailer ever that puts a male protagonist in a situation of implied sexual assault if you want me to believe otherwise.

You tell it, as if the sexual assault situation was the guiding reason for the choice of character in the game.

No, my point was that the situation is only there because of the choice of character.

I am simply saying that if the game developers want to give her a very real traumatic experience that will build her personality, then sexual assault is a valid choice.

A reasonable and well informed opinion.

But when I watch that trailer I don't get the feeling that was their motivation. It all comes across like an exploitation movie - like the 70s/80s revenge flicks that used rape/attempted rape as the reason for the female hero to pick up a gun and start killing people, exactly as shown in the trailer. Of course we're seeing it out of context, but I'll bet any money that that's the first point in the game where Lara picks up the pistol(s) that are iconic to her character. That's not a traumatic experience, that's an excuse.

Okay, I see where you are coming from now. I can see how it could be interpreted that way, and I have my own reservations about the game due to that as well. Hopefully, that is not the case. But my first post on this thread mentioned my worry about this becoming another Metroid: Other M where they make the female character reliant on the actions of a man to grow or progress. While I would understand a sexual assault feeding into her character and giving her motivation, if they handle it wrong, it could be a disaster. Like you said, if she picks up her iconic guns right after the sexual assault, then it could become silly or offensive. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[SnakeoilSage]

Did I just watch a snuff film?

 

[2733]

This looks really good, but it just doesn't seem like tomb raider. I have the feeling that mixing this idea of vulnerable person in scary place thing with Lara Croft will only diminish both sides, should have been a new ip. As for the sexual assault thing, we are talking about the bit from about 2:15 till 2:35ish correct? It does seem that she fights him off and then kills him so I think they are going to emphasis the act of killing her attacker rather then the assault itself.

 

[TheCaptain]

I always found it difficult to care about Lara Croft as a character, and I'm not too sure this'll change it, but if the gameplay doesn't suck and since the game looks nice it might be the first Tomb Raider I can probably stick with to the end.

 

[Tsaba]

snip

I'm pretty sure that the whole "attempted rape" thing isn't the reason she develops as a character, but, surviving. It's just that simple and the whole "attempted rape" just happens to be a part of the package.

OT: I look forward to what else they release for the game.

 

[Metalrocks]

i also dont think the rape part made lara who she is. but its a good move anyway since its aimed for mature players. lara is a young woman, so its obvious that ruthless guys try to get a piece of her. was wondering all the time why non of the guys in the previous games even tried to touch her.
and besides, we only see her using the gun for a short time. according to CD, she will use the bow and malee attacks more often then guns.